General and Assassin
by sapphics
Summary: After Asajj Ventress and General Grievous lose to the Republic on Kamino, Count Dooku decides that the two must learn to cooperate. He assigns them both a small-time mission in the Outer Rim together as both a punishment and a lesson, but he underestimates the effect that isolation can have on two people.


Asajj Ventress couldn't help but smirk at the clone before her. He blasted away at battle droids aimlessly, like a cornered animal. How pathetic. With an upward wave of her hand, she lifted him into the air and pushed him hard against the wall. The droids around them backed away nervously, while the ever stoic General Grievous watched on intently. She squeezed her hand, causing the clone to gag and grab weakly at his throat as she force chocked him. She suddenly pulled him toward her, his strangled scream cut off as her ignited lightsaber pierced through his heart. She sadisticly planted a kiss on the side of his mouth before dropping his body to the floor. She stepped over the corpse to greet the very intrigued general.

"Your skills are impressive. Perhaps a match for my own, assassin" he complimented as she approached.

"Count Dooku may have taught you how to swing a lightsaber, General, but that hardly makes you my equal," she remarked with a swish of her hand.

Grievous straightened.

"And yet I am the general in charge of this assault," he said. "Remember, assassin, you are to recover the clone DNA."

Ventress glared at him.

"Why not just destroy it?" she asked.

"Because the DNA could unlock new possibilities for us," Grievous replied.

Ventress rolled her eyes.

"Keep playing with your droids. I'll handle breaking into the DNA room," she scoffed.

Ventress turned away, but before she could take a single step, a sharp durasteel claw reached out and gripped her forearm tightly. She turned around, looking up and into the slit eyes of the perpetrator. Although his mask obscured the rest of his face, the way they were crinkled in the corners betrayed his smirk.

"Shall I provide you with a droid escort?" Grievous inquired.

So he wanted to play games, did he? A coy smile crossed Ventress' lips. She reached out a pale hand and firmly grasped his chin, pulling him down to make direct eye contact with her. His fierce golden eyes widened as they locked with her cool blue ones. The grip on her arm slackened. Victory was eminent.

"My dear general, there's nothing you have that I could want." she cooed.

Ventress held back a laugh as Grievous' hand fell limply back to his side. The sly look in his eyes had been replaced by pure fury. She had won. Who knew that the mighty general of the Separatist droid army would fall so easily to a mere assassin? To torment him even further, she swayed her hips seductively as she walked away from the defeated general.

Grievous' rage at his defeat only grew at the sight of Ventress' sexy taunt. When he was sure she was out of earshot, he let out a growl of frustration. He had failed to defend his superiority, but that did not make that tricky witch his equal. A battle droid approached from behind and tapped his shoulder. Seething with anger, he did not turn to face it.

"Um... excuse me, General, but we're currently behind schedule because of your, uh, "conversation" with commander Ventr-"

Still facing the other way, Grievous cut off the droid with a blow to its head. A gasp of horror rippled throughout the droid troops as their comrade crashed to the ground, its face smashed in. Grievous slowly turned to face them, eyes narrowed.

"If any one of you idiot battle droids dares speak to me like that again, you'll end up just like this worthless B1 unit here, got it?" He said menacingly, motioning to the mechanical heap on the floor.

"Roger, roger!" The droids yelped in terror.

"Good. Now, we must scare out the hidden clones. Towards the barracks!" Grievous commanded.

(AFTER THE BATTLE)

Ventress sat, arms crossed and eyes down, in the backseat of Grievous' escape shuttle. The general himself sat in the front, hunched miserably over the controls. The mission had failed. Neither of them had said a word since their retreat. Now, as they sped through hyperspace, the awkward silence was interrupted by the blaring ring of a transmission request. Ventress looked up and scowled. She had been anticipating this moment, and not eagerly. Grievous seemed to share this point of view, emitting a bitter hiss as he accepted the call. The small hologram figure of Count Dooku materialized near the cyborg, who begrudgingly shifted to face him.

"Ah, Grievous, and Ventress, too," Dooku remarked. "I see you both have successfully made it onto your escape shuttle. I was informed by the fleet that the mission failed. Does one of you care to explain?"

Grievous was quick to reply.

"It is all the fault of this Dathomirian wench!" He snapped. "She failed to retrieve the clone DNA, and let herself get cornered by Skywalker and his troops! She only made it out alive because I was gracious enough to rescue her!"

Ventress surged from her seat.

"How dare you...!" She growled. "In your report, you have conveniently left out the fact that your droids were decimated by the Republic's forces, and that you engaged in combat with Obi-Wan Kenobi, yet failed to kill him!"

A sharp inhale signaled that Grievous was about to reply, but before a single word could escape from his mouth, Count Dooku spoke.

"Enough! As failures, both of you have no right to place blame. It is obvious to me now why the mission was unsuccessful; my two most trusted commanders are incapable of cooperation!" He spat. "This loss will be catastrophic for the Separatists. I will have decided the punishment for your misconduct by the time you've reached the rendezvous point; that is all."

Dooku's holoimage blipped out of existence, leaving a shocked general and assassin staring at where it had once been.


End file.
